2019 Gardening thread of homegrown tomatoes

[cactusflinthead 27,598]

I have a pretty good crop of snow peas going. It's just enough for me. Nobody else in the house likes them. I hit them early for powdery mildew and so far they have been clean. 

[Spaulding Smails 1,552]

We rolled straight from our winter garden into our spring garden.  I'm actually waiting for a few winter crops to finish playing out so I can get my last few spring items in the ground (cucumbers, squash, zucchini).  This is also the first year that I'm planting tomatoes in three runs about 3-4 weeks apart.  I'm hoping to get a longer total yield time throughout the spring and summer instead of a month of more tomatoes than we can eat.  

I just pulled up the last of the lettuce, kale, spinach and collard greens.   I pulled up the rest of the carrots a few weeks ago.  They were amazing.  We had probably 60 lb total produced.  Strawberries are going strong, and we're getting bout 50-80 twice a week.  That strawberry plant is a holdover from last year.  Never died off in the summer or the winter, and just started producing again.  Tried artichokes for the first time, and we're getting a few.  I just don't know if I'll do them again, because they take up a ton of space without much production.  We still have garlic, shallots and onions awaiting harvest soon.   Potatoes are going strong, and first round of tomatoes are a few weeks away from producing.  Also starting to see seedlings pop up for cantaloupe, watermelon and green beans.  Gonna be a good year for the garden.  

[Walden Ponderer 12,639]

I actually put in some tomatoes and peppers even though the house is on the market. I figured we won't harvest any, but they'll show well.

This time next year, though...

[texasdago 7,567]

Any ideas what could be causing this curling?  The leaves will curl up and then die.  Happening to two of my tomato plants (same variety)

 

 

Edited May 6, 2019 by texasdago

[cactusflinthead 27,598]

On 5/6/2019 at 9:28 AM, texasdago said:

Any ideas what could be causing this curling?  The leaves will curl up and then die.  Happening to two of my tomato plants (same variety)

 

 

Has it gotten worse?

[texasdago 7,567]

2 hours ago, cactusflinthead said:

Has it gotten worse?

Yup, it has.  In a sense it will kill the leaves.

Edited May 15, 2019 by texasdago

[cactusflinthead 27,598]

2 hours ago, texasdago said:

Yup, it has.  In a sense it will kill the leaves.

Any of this sound familiar?

• Initially, plants wilt during the hottest part of the day and recover at night.
• Leaflets turn yellow on one side of the plant, or even just leaflets on one half of a compound leaf.
• The entire plant soon turns yellow and wilts. Browning of leaves occurs rarely.
• Peel the epidermis off the lower stem to see dark red brown discolored vascular tissue.

[texasdago 7,567]

"The entire plant soon turns yellow and wilts. Browning of leaves occurs rarely." - I wouldn't say rarely.

[Spaulding Smails 1,552]

We're at the point where we're getting more vegetables than we know what to do with.  Seems to always happen in early June, which is a good thing.  Tomatoes seem to be ripening slower than normal this year.  Should finally have some ready to pick next week.  Getting all the potatoes out of the ground tomorrow to make room for eggplant and okra.

Onions

Blackberries

Garlic

[swraith 345]

Tomato from garden. Blackberries have been producing for a week. Getting my first blueberries.

[CycleTex87 2,965]

On 6/2/2019 at 8:52 PM, swraith said:

Tomato from garden. Blackberries have been producing for a week. Getting my first blueberries.

I bet those tomatoes are the best thing you ever ate. 

[Dbeasy 15,041]

Would be great to see the planted areas in some photos. Thinking about setting up a garden.

[Spaulding Smails 1,552]

This is my setup from last year.  Looks about the same now, but I haven't had to use the shade cover at all.  I moved a few things around this year as well and trying a few different things, but mostly the same configuration and layout.

[Both Tacos 1,806]

Cherry tomatoes are just starting to get ripe but the larger tomatoes haven't begun to even grow. I did plant a couple of tomato plants that were a little more mature and have gotten a couple off of them.
Cucumbers have started to make their way up the cattle panel trellis.
Zucchini and yellow squash are killing it this year so far. Most production I've had in a long time. Been going for a couple of weeks now and getting some massive ones about every other day.
My strawberry plants that I left from last year are producing but only small fruit.
The first 2 pics are of my garden as I got it planted back in April.
1st pic is what I refer to as the inside garden (inside of the backyard), which is a raised bed.
2nd pic is the outside garden, which was a ground bed and basically is a mud pit with all the rain we have gotten. Its killed off all the bell peppers and tomatoes that were in it. I had to replant everything awhile back and I'm back to the same thing. Only thing going strong is the cucumbers, cantaloupe and watermelon plants that I had in mounds. Going to change it over to a raised bed next year for better drainage.
3rd pic is the strawberry patch. Still trying to get my finger on how to get it to produce. The ones growing inside the patch get soggy, plus the slugs have gotten to them. Seems they want to stem out to the sunshine. Are they crowded? Do I need to thin them out?
Last pictures are what I've harvested so far this season.
Looking forward to it being a productive one.

[Both Tacos 1,806]

Good harvest today. Going to need to start giving away some squash soon. Updated pics of the inside garden and the squash plants on steriods.

[Errestaurants 2,570]

Made dill pickles from some heirloom pickling cucumbers.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[swraith 345]

Blackberries collected from last several days minus what I eat while picking.

[thunderlounge 7,813]

I'll try to stick to the readers digest version of this, but we'll see how it goes.

Last January I got my tomato/pepper/other seeds selected and the seedling racks ready to sprout. Check. Same thing every year. Get the seeds set, planted to sprout, they come up, and all is well. Then about 3 weeks into it (now mid Feb) everything went to shit. Basil, sage, thyme, cilantro, tomatoes, all my peppers (planned on putting 60-70 out this year)... everything just up and fucked off within a couple of days. No signs of anything going on, nutrient deficiency/burn, nothing. 140 pepper containers, 12 tomato, 8 basil, 4 sage, 8 cilantro, 8 thyme. Each of those had 2 seeds each, so I could take the strongest in the start, then then 50% after that.

I quickly ordered more pepper seeds, and still had enough of the others. I diligently clean everything, and replant everything the third week of February. Everything sprouted.

By St Patrick's Day, I'd lost most of the herbs and about 1/3 of the tomato and peppers. Again, no signs of anything wrong. A plant would look fine, then shrivel and kick off within a few days. WTF WTF WTF?

By the second week of April, I was down to 3 tomato and 6 pepper plants. I put them on the deck and let whatever was going to happen, happen. I ended up with 2 tomato and 3 peppers from my starts by the time I planted about 4 weeks ago, and ended up buying 2 tomato and 9 pepper plants from various nurseries around here. The 2 toms are growing a bit funky, but they're coming around and flowering. The peppers are lagging pretty good, and maybe up to 9" tall. I guess I'll see what happens.

I've never ran into something so weird in all the years I've done this. Not as a kid helping my grandpa, not as an adult and having my own stuff. It was just so fucking weird. Naturally I went into full freak the fuck out mode in April as I watched Rome burn around me, and now I have a new, complete indoor garden setup. I went from a 3-level rack (4ft wide, 2ft deep, ~6ft 6in high) built from 2x4s, full spectrum grow lights, to:

- 4ftx2ftx5ft grow tent.
- 1500W (365w draw) full spectrum grow light
- various fans for circulation

But wait, there's more!

After I got that stuff, I had the wild ass idea of why can't I have fresh peppers and tomatoes in December if I want? I've got the setup, so fuck it! Well, sure, but one thing I ran into quickly was height. 5ft of height just wasn't going to cut it. Not when you have a container that's 1ft, and then needing to keep the light 18in above the top of the plants. Well, shit. So I picked up a 4x4x7 tent, inline duct fan, and a few other things to fill it out. I wanted to get an 8ft tent, but I'm going to set this shit up in the basement and the ceilings are 7ft 10in. Missed it by -------- that much. 7ft tent it is. I can make that work though. I'm going to use the smaller one for my outdoor seedlings, but the larger one I'll start plants in somewhere around Labor Day. Then by Thanksgiving I'll have fresh tomatoes and peppers. Fuck that cardboard shit. When it's hot as fuck out, I can put cool weather shit inside. One thing I'm looking forward to is having a protected area and being able to get into some of the more temperamental heirloom tomato varieties. Bugs? Fuck em! Soil diseases? Fuck them too.

I'm going to give it a short test run starting in a few weeks, and do up some quick stuff. Lettuce, radishes, green onions, maybe something else. All around the same height, and that way I can get a feel for the lighting setup and how it's going to work out. Then I'll be able to start the tomato plants (I think I'll do one sauce and one slice, and keep pruned some), then 4 chili pepper plants (2 chimayo, 1 hatch red, 1 sandia.) That should keep me set through the winter. I may end up ordering a second light so I don't have to cut the big one off just to sprout seedlings in January. With the right temps, I guess I could (in theory) keep those plants producing for a good while with nothing to kill them off. Still thinking all of that through though. Either way it looks like the gardening thing is going to be year round now, and that's alright with me. It can be a good escape from a grind. (Until you overreact and buy a bunch of stupid shit.)

 

 

[mulletpelini 5,210]

Will you have enough humidity to grow indoors?  I tried one year, could not get the humidity that tomatoes needed to grow em indoors.  I've had issues with shit getting fucked up when I plant in the ground, but plant something similar at the same time but elevated off and out of the ground (think topsy turvy) and get great produce.  Honestly, I try to hang everything if possible, I just have had better produce when I do that, but it could be due to conditions here (Wichita).   

With your height issues, growing from above and then they will naturally sag down as they mature you can grow them down to the floor.

Edited June 12, 2019 by mulletpelini
big rude saggy tomatoes

[thunderlounge 7,813]

I’ve got humidity covered, as well as air circulation, ventilation, etc. Not worried one bit on that. Not mentioned above were other tools and such since I was trying to keep it shortish in post length. 

I have the inline duct fan, rated for 300-something cfm, two oscillating fans (8in usb powered, they’re kinda awesome) for inside, another small fan I’ll put at floor level,  two wireless hygrometers, various tds/ph/light meters, and so on. In the summer for the cooler crops indoors I may have to supplement humidity a tick, but in the winter it won’t be an issue. I have a humidifier on the hvac so should be just fine with plant contributions.

I went way overboard, but the end result will be a fun extension of the hobby. If I really wanted to I do have the space to set up a pretty big indoor garden, but I’m going to keep it at the hobby level and confined to the 4x4 tent area. There will most likely be times I don't have it running, and I’m alright with that from time to time. It’s more of an extension of my main outdoor garden that I can run in the winter. Of course my outdoor garden isn’t overly exciting as it’s mostly chili peppers, a few toms, and sprinkled with other stuff depending on my mood for the year. 

This year with the extra space not being taken up by peppers I put out 3 watermelon hills (2 rattlesnake, 1 sugarbaby bush) and 2 cantaloupe. The vines will fill in the empty space, but it looks a bit sparse for the moment. 

[mulletpelini 5,210]

12 hours ago, thunderlounge said:

I have the inline duct fan, rated for 300-something cfm, two oscillating fans (8in usb powered, they’re kinda awesome) for inside, another small fan I’ll put at floor level,  two wireless hygrometers, various tds/ph/light meters, and so on.

[Both Tacos 1,806]

Picked the garden on Saturday morning, went away a couple of days and came back to this picking yesterday evening.

[Both Tacos 1,806]

Not enough room in the fridge for all that so I cubed up the zucchini and squash. Froze it overnight and bagged it up for winter.

[mulletpelini 5,210]

You should probably clip those toenails.

[Both Tacos 1,806]

First round of pickles are done. Will get to the other bowl full tomorrow.

 

[Lhorn 4,909]

On 6/19/2019 at 8:44 PM, Both Tacos said:

Not enough room in the fridge for all that so I cubed up the zucchini and squash. Froze it overnight and bagged it up for winter.

Does it freeze ok just cut up or do you have to blanch it?

[Both Tacos 1,806]

Does it freeze ok just cut up or do you have to blanch it?

Just freeze after you cut it up and then vacuum seal. Some people just throw them into zip lock bags after freezing but it's a pretty simple process to seal them.

[Deej 76,752]

I've got six box gardens in my front yard. Bugs were crazy on my plants last year. I planted two boxes full of lavender this year, and almost no insects on any of my veggies. Lots of bees and butterflies hanging around, though. 

[thunderlounge 7,813]

I’ve tried twice (different suppliers) to get lavender out front with some of the ornamentals. It’s crapped out both times. Guess it doesn’t like the dirt there. Maybe next year I’ll try it in the rail box and see how it goes. Don’t typically have issues there, but did find a hoard of aphids under leaves on one branch of cilantro. Cut it off then checked the rest of the plant, and sprayed a little insecticidal soap on the whole box. 

It time here for the annual reenactment of WW2. I play the part of the Allied forces, and the Japanese beetles.... well, you get the idea. Wish there was a break long enough in the rain to break out the nuke option, but so far no luck. Starting to feel like Seattle, but knowing my luck the water works will turn off and won’t be rain for months.

 

[mulletpelini 5,210]

oh those Japanese beetles, I had a good battle with them one year.  They fight too the death.

[thunderlounge 7,813]

I hate those fuckers. Game on this afternoon though. 

[swraith 345]

I've got six box gardens in my front yard. Bugs were crazy on my plants last year. I planted two boxes full of lavender this year, and almost no insects on any of my veggies. Lots of bees and butterflies hanging around, though. 

What kind of lavender did you plant ? I threw 4 tiny lavender plants in the ground and they have grown well, but no blooms of any significance.

[Deej 76,752]

Same stuff you have planted. They've been blooming like crazy. 

[Both Tacos 1,806]

Got a good harvest today. We picked cucumbers and some tomatoes over the last couple of days but the wife and kids did a full sweep through this afternoon.

[4th and 5 4,914]

On 6/23/2019 at 2:33 PM, thunderlounge said:

I’ve tried twice (different suppliers) to get lavender out front with some of the ornamentals. It’s crapped out both times. Guess it doesn’t like the dirt there. Maybe next year I’ll try it in the rail box and see how it goes. Don’t typically have issues there, but did find a hoard of aphids under leaves on one branch of cilantro. Cut it off then checked the rest of the plant, and sprayed a little insecticidal soap on the whole box. 

It time here for the annual reenactment of WW2. I play the part of the Allied forces, and the Japanese beetles.... well, you get the idea. Wish there was a break long enough in the rain to break out the nuke option, but so far no luck. Starting to feel like Seattle, but knowing my luck the water works will turn off and won’t be rain for months.

 

Lavender needs good drainage, plenty of sun and not to be over watered.

[thunderlounge 7,813]

9 hours ago, 4th and 5 said:

Lavender needs good drainage, plenty of sun and not to be over watered.

 

That’s probably the issue in the beds out front then. Get down 8”-10” and it’s clay. 

[Both Tacos 1,806]

Going to make another batch of pickles tomorrow. Garden continues to spit out some good veggies daily.

[ERhine 1,894]

Y'all make my attempt at a home garden embarrassing.  

[Spaulding Smails 1,552]

What causes cucumbers to turn yellow?  I have never had luck with them.  It seems like the majority of mine end up getting yellow before they get ripe and they grow round rather than long.  It's been that way the last three years.  Not sure if it's moisture levels, soil or sun exposure.  Any ideas?

[Both Tacos 1,806]

Mine will turn yellow if they get over ripe. A little yellow is okay, but a brighter yellow is bitter.
So you could get small cucumbers getting yellow because not getting enough water and/or nutrients to grow.

[Both Tacos 1,806]

Found 2 cucumbers hiding at the bottom of the trellis that had been missed for a couple of days. Luckily they didn't yellow up.
Canned 19 more jars of dill pickles today. Next batch will certainly be bread and butter pickles.

[Walden Ponderer 12,639]

This ought to be my very last garden picture from College Station. Assuming closing goes as expected, a month from now, we'll be North Carolinians, and next year's garden will have a decidedly less Aztec kind of theme to it.

Anyway, the one thing I knew I should grow this year in spite of being in the middle of moving was Amaranth, because in addition to being edible, it's obviously decorative.

[mulletpelini 5,210]

I picked up a bunch of red/yellow/orange celosia here recently on clearance from Lowe's.  Reminds me of bit of those except not perennials.

Edited July 3, 2019 by mulletpelini
nice color

[cactusflinthead 27,598]

On 7/3/2019 at 12:52 AM, mulletpelini said:

I picked up a bunch of red/yellow/orange celosia here recently on clearance from Lowe's.  Reminds me of bit of those except not perennials.

Oh you are going to get him started. I'm fascinated by the divergence of the amaranth between cultivated for ornamentals, food, and as a got dam pest. 

Aztecs paid taxes in the grain of it. Cortez burned it all. It's amazing stuff. 

[thunderlounge 7,813]

On 6/11/2019 at 11:13 PM, thunderlounge said:

After I got that stuff, I had the wild ass idea of why can't I have fresh peppers and tomatoes in December if I want? I've got the setup, so fuck it! Well, sure, but one thing I ran into quickly was height. 5ft of height just wasn't going to cut it. Not when you have a container that's 1ft, and then needing to keep the light 18in above the top of the plants. Well, shit. So I picked up a 4x4x7 tent, inline duct fan, and a few other things to fill it out. I wanted to get an 8ft tent, but I'm going to set this shit up in the basement and the ceilings are 7ft 10in. Missed it by -------- that much. 7ft tent it is. I can make that work though. I'm going to use the smaller one for my outdoor seedlings, but the larger one I'll start plants in somewhere around Labor Day. Then by Thanksgiving I'll have fresh tomatoes and peppers. Fuck that cardboard shit. When it's hot as fuck out, I can put cool weather shit inside. One thing I'm looking forward to is having a protected area and being able to get into some of the more temperamental heirloom tomato varieties. Bugs? Fuck em! Soil diseases? Fuck them too.

 

Well, shit. I upped the light game after some extensive research and initial testing with some leaf greens. The little china blurple light I picked up will be alright for the seedling tent and it's 4x2 footprint, but with the bigger 4x4x7 it just wasn't going to cut the mustard. So I did a ton of digging, and then more, then talked to a few people that grow indoors as well. In the last month or so I've learned more about indoor garden lighting, PPF, PPFD, PAR, and all kinds of other charts, graphs and shit than anyone should possibly need to know as a hobbyist.

What I ended up formulating for my space/needs ended up being a light that had as even of a coverage/distribution area as possible. I didn't want something that was really high in the middle right under the light, and then dramatically decrease moving towards the edge of the footprint. I was looking for something that would give at least a 600 PPFD reading at the very edge, while keeping it at about a 1000 reading right in the middle. It took a good while, but I finally found something that really suits my needs.

Below is a general video of the light, and its PPFD readings at a few different heights.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3g63I-V9AM

 

For my purposes, I'll probably be running at 18"-21" above the plant canopy at about an 80% intensity once the plants start blooming and setting toms/peppers. If I start to have height issues and need to be closer, I can dim the intensity a bit more to compensate.Toms can get tall, but I plan on keeping it pruned back so it's more bushy than tall and stretchy. While in the initial growth phase, instead of raising the light, I'll just turn it down to about 50%, give or take.

I picked the light (and controller) up from LED Grow Lights Depot, and the owner (Erik, from the video) could not have been better. Excellent customer service before and after, and just a great business all around. If anyone else wants to get stupid, I highly recommend doing it right from the start and getting a quality light for your plants instead of blindly getting some cheap shit light off of amazon.

After a ton of research, I had it narrowed down to 4 different lights. They were:

- Crecer PanthrX
- HLG 550 V2 R-Spec
- (2) Green Sunshine ES300's (Each one covers a 4x2 area)
- Growers Choice ROI-E680

The ending factors were overall footprint uniformity, spectrum, intensity, dimming capability, and finally best overall bang for the buck. All of the above are great lights, but one was better overall for this ordeal. (A close 5th option was a Gavita 1600 with a controller.)

The Crecer was my second choice, but it was a little less at the edge and if I wanted dimming I would have to wire up my own. It had the leads, but no control.

The HLG just didn't quite have the power/coverage I wanted.

The green sunshine lights are great, but no dimming functionality.

 

This was a pretty big chunk of change for a hobby project, however spaced out over the life of the fixture (should get a solid 12-15 years out of it) then it isn't so bad long term. The initial hit was well more than I'd planned, but I'm ok with that for the end game and to do it right. Better than finding out the shit light won't grow a good tomato/pepper and the plants are keeling over. Hell, I could have done nothing and ended up with that.

Now if I employ some square foot gardening techniques to this, I could be in for some nice hauls over the winter months. I'll see how it all goes first, and start out semi-small. I think this winter will be 1 tomato, and 3 peppers like the original plan. I don't want to overcrowd it, because then the lower parts of the plants may not get enough light.

 

So at some point in the not too distant future, the following setup will be put into action:

- 4x4x7 Gorilla tent
- Growers Choice ROI-E680
- AC Infinity Cloudline S6 (inline duct fan to turn the air over in the space)
- (2) 8" USB powered oscillating fans ( interior circulation)
- 10" table top fan (floor level, interior circulation)

Additional supplies:
- Various meters (PH, TDS, etc)
- 6" ducting for intake/exhaust
- cheese cloth for intake screens (bug preventative, just in case)
- nutrients
- small in-room humidifier (shouldn't be needed most of the time, but just in case)
- small dehumidifier

Heat shouldn't be an issue with this light, but it won't be a zero factor either. I'm setting this up in my basement in the unfinished side as it has the most stable temps in the house. This will allow me to run the exhaust between the floor joists and into my workshop. If that isn't good enough (no reason it shouldn't be, but just in case) then I've been planning to put an exhaust in my workshop anyway for dust, paint fumes, etc. I would simply use a Y-duct to merge this into that, and then vent to the outside in a similar fashion as a bathroom fan. I don't think that will be necessary, but once I put the shop exhaust in anyway, I might as well add that as well.

Intake will be room air, which stays a pretty consistent temp thanks to, you know, the ground and all. I plan to run about 25ft or so of ducting for the intake, then snake it around the outside edges on the floor. Floor contact, and lots of it, should keep the intake stable. Cheese cloth on the intake as a preventative measure. If for some reason temps get too warm, I have a plan for that. I have an old cooler that I'll turn into an ice box. It can hold up to 6 1gal milk jugs, and 2 of the 1/2 gallon. I plan to put a 6" hole in each end, and connect the intake ducting to that. I doubt more than 3 of the 1gal jugs would be needed, so no problem there. That's more for the intake temp not being able to overcome the heat from the light, but I don't think that should be an issue. Temp in there runs about 70* most of the time, so should be just fine. Always good to have a backup plan though.

 

 

[swraith 345]

^^ that sounds intense. 

 

You expecting any significant changes in your electric bill based on your forecasted growing?

[4th and 5 4,914]

16 hours ago, thunderlounge said:

 

Well, shit. I upped the light game after some extensive research and initial testing with some leaf greens. The little china blurple light I picked up will be alright for the seedling tent and it's 4x2 footprint, but with the bigger 4x4x7 it just wasn't going to cut the mustard. So I did a ton of digging, and then more, then talked to a few people that grow indoors as well. In the last month or so I've learned more about indoor garden lighting, PPF, PPFD, PAR, and all kinds of other charts, graphs and shit than anyone should possibly need to know as a hobbyist.

What I ended up formulating for my space/needs ended up being a light that had as even of a coverage/distribution area as possible. I didn't want something that was really high in the middle right under the light, and then dramatically decrease moving towards the edge of the footprint. I was looking for something that would give at least a 600 PPFD reading at the very edge, while keeping it at about a 1000 reading right in the middle. It took a good while, but I finally found something that really suits my needs.

Below is a general video of the light, and its PPFD readings at a few different heights.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3g63I-V9AM

 

For my purposes, I'll probably be running at 18"-21" above the plant canopy at about an 80% intensity once the plants start blooming and setting toms/peppers. If I start to have height issues and need to be closer, I can dim the intensity a bit more to compensate.Toms can get tall, but I plan on keeping it pruned back so it's more bushy than tall and stretchy. While in the initial growth phase, instead of raising the light, I'll just turn it down to about 50%, give or take.

I picked the light (and controller) up from LED Grow Lights Depot, and the owner (Erik, from the video) could not have been better. Excellent customer service before and after, and just a great business all around. If anyone else wants to get stupid, I highly recommend doing it right from the start and getting a quality light for your plants instead of blindly getting some cheap shit light off of amazon.

After a ton of research, I had it narrowed down to 4 different lights. They were:

- Crecer PanthrX
- HLG 550 V2 R-Spec
- (2) Green Sunshine ES300's (Each one covers a 4x2 area)
- Growers Choice ROI-E680

The ending factors were overall footprint uniformity, spectrum, intensity, dimming capability, and finally best overall bang for the buck. All of the above are great lights, but one was better overall for this ordeal. (A close 5th option was a Gavita 1600 with a controller.)

The Crecer was my second choice, but it was a little less at the edge and if I wanted dimming I would have to wire up my own. It had the leads, but no control.

The HLG just didn't quite have the power/coverage I wanted.

The green sunshine lights are great, but no dimming functionality.

 

This was a pretty big chunk of change for a hobby project, however spaced out over the life of the fixture (should get a solid 12-15 years out of it) then it isn't so bad long term. The initial hit was well more than I'd planned, but I'm ok with that for the end game and to do it right. Better than finding out the shit light won't grow a good tomato/pepper and the plants are keeling over. Hell, I could have done nothing and ended up with that.

Now if I employ some square foot gardening techniques to this, I could be in for some nice hauls over the winter months. I'll see how it all goes first, and start out semi-small. I think this winter will be 1 tomato, and 3 peppers like the original plan. I don't want to overcrowd it, because then the lower parts of the plants may not get enough light.

 

So at some point in the not too distant future, the following setup will be put into action:

- 4x4x7 Gorilla tent
- Growers Choice ROI-E680
- AC Infinity Cloudline S6 (inline duct fan to turn the air over in the space)
- (2) 8" USB powered oscillating fans ( interior circulation)
- 10" table top fan (floor level, interior circulation)

Additional supplies:
- Various meters (PH, TDS, etc)
- 6" ducting for intake/exhaust
- cheese cloth for intake screens (bug preventative, just in case)
- nutrients
- small in-room humidifier (shouldn't be needed most of the time, but just in case)
- small dehumidifier

Heat shouldn't be an issue with this light, but it won't be a zero factor either. I'm setting this up in my basement in the unfinished side as it has the most stable temps in the house. This will allow me to run the exhaust between the floor joists and into my workshop. If that isn't good enough (no reason it shouldn't be, but just in case) then I've been planning to put an exhaust in my workshop anyway for dust, paint fumes, etc. I would simply use a Y-duct to merge this into that, and then vent to the outside in a similar fashion as a bathroom fan. I don't think that will be necessary, but once I put the shop exhaust in anyway, I might as well add that as well.

Intake will be room air, which stays a pretty consistent temp thanks to, you know, the ground and all. I plan to run about 25ft or so of ducting for the intake, then snake it around the outside edges on the floor. Floor contact, and lots of it, should keep the intake stable. Cheese cloth on the intake as a preventative measure. If for some reason temps get too warm, I have a plan for that. I have an old cooler that I'll turn into an ice box. It can hold up to 6 1gal milk jugs, and 2 of the 1/2 gallon. I plan to put a 6" hole in each end, and connect the intake ducting to that. I doubt more than 3 of the 1gal jugs would be needed, so no problem there. That's more for the intake temp not being able to overcome the heat from the light, but I don't think that should be an issue. Temp in there runs about 70* most of the time, so should be just fine. Always good to have a backup plan though.

 

 

The narcotics task force will be by shortly. 

Prepare your anus. 

[thunderlounge 7,813]

7 hours ago, swraith said:

^^ that sounds intense. 

 

You expecting any significant changes in your electric bill based on your forecasted growing?

 

Obviously it will go up a tick, but not significantly. At full power it might raise the bill $50/mo, if that. Not insignificant, but way better than 2 600W HPS or a 1kW HPS. Since most of the time it will be dimmed down a bit, I’m guessing the most will be about a $40/mo increase at peak usage. Also it will depend on what I’m growing too. If I do a crop of lettuce mid-summer, then I won’t need to run it more than probably 30% intensity, which won’t be bad. 

For peppers/tomatoes those will be in the winter, so even better as the AC is off.

 

4 hours ago, 4th and 5 said:

The narcotics task force will be by shortly. 

Prepare your anus. 

 

Fuck them. I ain’t sharing none of my peppers or tomatoes. They can eat the cardboard shit from the store. 

[texasdago 7,567]

On 7/6/2019 at 11:56 PM, cactusflinthead said:

Oh you are going to get him started. I'm fascinated by the divergence of the amaranth between cultivated for ornamentals, food, and as a got dam pest. 

Aztecs paid taxes in the grain of it. Cortez burned it all. It's amazing stuff. 

Had some amazing amaranth in Greece.  Didn't know what it was save for it being a local green that they sauteed... I googled the Greek name and found out it was amaranth

[Both Tacos 1,806]

Pounded out some bread and butter pickles. Cucumbers are still going strong so looks like another round of dill pickles this weekend.